Watch out Baywatch, SD lifeguards are hitting the air waves

A new TV series is guaranteed to be a true cliff hanger. That’s because it features rescues made by Southern California lifeguards from Long Beach down to Point Loma.

“Lifeguard,” a 13-part series, debuts Thursday at 9 p.m. on The Weather Channel with a double episode that includes a Sunset Cliffs rescue from a popular daredevil jump-off spot.

An injured youth, pulled from the water onto a rock ledge by friends, had to be hoisted up the cliff. Also featured is the frantic rescue of a boy buried under sand in Newport Beach after he dug a tunnel that collapsed on top of him. (See more at: weather.com/tv/tvshows/lifeguard/).

“Baywatch” this is not. It’s true reality TV, focusing on the day-to-day work of real lifeguards, dispelling the myth that work consists of basking in the sun and flirting with beachgoers.

A Torrey Pines paraglider collides with a cliff and a surfer gets caught in storm swell in North Pacific Beach. The show also documents the closing of Mission Beach after the sighting of a great white shark.

While the S.D. Fire and Rescue Department didn’t get paid, spokesman Maurice Luque says The Weather Channel is buying city lifeguards a small rescue vehicle. Plus, it’s heavily promoting the series (and San Diego’s beaches).

Word play: San Diegan Martha Barnette had lots of folks puzzling over her name last Sunday. That’s because her moniker was the answer to the Feb. 12 New York Times Magazine acrostic puzzle. It was a surprise to Barnette, who co-hosts a public radio show about language, “A Way with Words.”

She discovered her newfound fame when a friend on the East Coast emailed a note: “I am blown away,” along with a photo of the puzzle she had just completed.

“The truth is I’m terrible at acrostics, so I couldn’t figure out why on earth she was sending me one,” confessed Barnette. But as she studied the finished puzzle and started reading the first letter of each clue vertically, B-A-R-N-E-T-T-E emerged, followed by the name of her book: “A Garden of Words.” “Well, I was blown away, too,” said the language expert.

Chamber secrets:Mark Leslie, vice president of AT&T, officially took over as chairman of the S.D. Regional Chamber of Commerce Thursday with an ambitious 2012 business agenda ahead. Vincent Mudd, the outgoing chairman, reminded Leslie of his early, less heady days as a pole climber for Pacific Bell and the only male telephone operator in Pac Bell’s phone room in 1972. Leslie later confessed that the first union he joined was the Federation of Women Telephone Workers.

Mayor Jerry Sanders, tasked with swearing in the Chamber’s new board members, found the Chamber’s teleprompter on the fritz. Winging it, he asked them to repeat after him: “I solemnly swear to do everything I am supposed to for the City of San Diego.”

Forget the scissors: Samson didn’t get a visit from Delilah, but rather Leona. Nor did Samson’s hair get cut off. But that was wise considering Samson is an African lion. Leona is singer Leona Lewis, former British X Factor TV show winner. She was a guest at Samson’s 11th birthday party Monday at Ramona’s Fund for Animals Wildlife Center, Samson’s home since he was rescued as a cub from the exotic pet trade.

Flight of fancy: Who says penguins don’t fly? Yes, those were real penguins walking the aisle of a Southwest Airlines jet heading to Denver the other day. Pete and Penny Penguin made the trip to appear at Southwest Airlines’ skating rink in downtown Denver, said their SeaWorld spokesman, Booker T. Crenshaw. After all, Southwest is the penguins’ official airline. What’s more, they didn’t exhibit a fear of flying but, then again, they weren't on Southwest's Boeing 737 painted like killer whale Shamu.